Rawalpindi Ring Road Project: Is It Still Up in the Air ?
It is quite a surprise for anybody who has been following developments on Rawlapindi Ring Road project. We had been hearing news recently that its PC-1 had been approved, and the government would allocate funds for this project in the upcoming budget. But after the budget has been announced, we don’t see a penny reserved for the Rawalpindi Ring Road.
It is a much needed project for the residents of twin cities as the only road leading to all major housing schemes of Rawalpindi is the GT road. The GT road is already very congested due the bulk load of heavy traffic of twin cities as well as those travelling in and out of the city especially loading trucks. There is no alternate route which connects Rawalpindi with Motorway except through Kashmir Highway or Chakri. Therefore, this ring road was planned which provides a hassle free alternate route for all the traffic moving from Rawat to Islamabad & Motorway and vice versa.
Following is the outline of Rawalpindi Ring Road:
All the groundwork on the project is already completed, and the plan is just awaiting allocation of funds to be commenced. It was not only important for the travellers, but for the residents of the housing schemes like Bahria Town, DHA & Askari societies who would get alternate route to approach motorway and Islamabad.
As the map suggests, the ring road will connect rawat to adyala road, and makes a fork. One artery goes right up to sector I-16 & another one connects to motorway at Thallian Interchange. From its link to motorway, it further goes up and connects to Kashmir Highway Extension near New Islamabad International Airport and finally ends up at Fateh Jang Road. Rawalpindi Ring Road will have several interchanges throughout the span of the road. It will have Channi Bridge Interchange, Chak Bali Road Interchange, Rawat Interchange, Gorakh Pur Interchange, Adyala Interchange, Dhamial Interchange, Chakri Interchange, Motorway Interchange and Fatehjang Interchange.
Total length of the planned ring road is around 38 Kilometers and it is an essential development project for the twin cities. The plan has been revised couple of times in the part, but now it is finally designed and approved.
All the major housing schemes of Rawalpindi like Bahria Town Phase 8, DHA Phase 3 and DHA Phase 4 rely heavily on ring road project as it provides easy access to these housing schemes. Also, the housing schemes on Adyala Road, Sector I-16, CBR, FOECHS and the housing projects on Fateh Jang Road rely on ring road project for easy access to all part of the twin cities. Property prices along the ring road will rise much higher after this development, therefore this project is considered while shortlisting investment options in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
Another detailed map of Rawalpind Ring Road is attached below:
In this map, you can see the housing schemes which are directly affected by the Ring Road. Also, you will notice that it gives short access to motorway from Rawalpindi which is very important for the cargo carriage to & from new Islamabad International Airport.
We are still uncertain as to why government didn’t allocate funds to Rawlapindi Ring Road. Express Tribune has reported on the issue and we have the following clipping as attached below:
As per the report, the Punjab governemnt is losing interest on Rawalpindi Ring Road project. It has failed to bring in private investment for the project and couldn’t strike deal with ADB for the loan. Nespak is currently conducting fresh feasibility report for the project that will be completed by the end of this fiscal year. So, we may come to the conclusion that this project is further delayed for the next fiscal year.
Rawalpindi Ring Road coming soon.